The One Where They Learned Print Making

In our last class today we focused on print making! This class was one that I was looking forward to as I was intrigued at what print making was and how we were going to implement it in class. We focused on the Grade 6 curriculum and we learned 6 ways of print making. The 6 methods that we explored were: stencils, collograph, mono print, styrofoam engraving, found objects and plasticine. The elements of design that print making focuses on most heavily is line and texture. During the lesson I learned that when you are teaching print making, it is important to teach your students balance and repetition as they are the two main aspects that print making is comprised of. Balance in this art form is when students need to arrange their element of design and create an equal amount of negative and positive space. Repetition is when there is a reputation of a single image repeatedly throughout the art piece. In this lesson, we were introduced to 6 methods of print making and were instructed to explore them. Then once we had a good grasp on each of the methods we were then instructed to take two the methods that we learned and create an art piece. For my art piece I chose the styrofoam engraving and the found objects methods.  I used the two methods and the yellow and purple complimentary colours to create my art piece. The found objects is using random objects that a teacher can find around the classroom, their house or in the community. I noticed that the found objects material was very easy to manipulate and it left a very good impression on my paper.  The styrofoam engraving is when you take a piece of styrofoam and carve out a design into the foam and create a stamped impression. When I used the styrofoam engraving, I found that it did not transfer well to the paper and that my engravings on the styrofoam was not strong enough to leave a last impression. In this lesson I learned that it is important to create a discussion with your students and create an open area for discussion and reflection around printmaking, the concepts and what they created. I would definitely use print making in a future classroom and would focus on 1-2 of the techniques with the class but provide them step by step instructions first on how to make the proper impression or the techniques on how to make it work effectively. This was a very fun and engaging lesson and I found it very valuable, it was skill that I had not yet worked with or seen in the school setting and I look forward to implementing it in my teaching career in the near future.